NBPCA CEO talks payments for unbanked, underbanked and millennials

Prepaid might be exploding, but there’s still a knowledge gap when it comes to consumers, industry and government. The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) aims to change that and works to promote education and growth in the industry.

Brad Fauss, the CEO and president of the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association, has spent more than 20 years in the payment industry and speaking during an interview in the Finetics™ Studio by The Bancorp at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, he shared his insights on the challenges around regulating prepaid, misconceptions and what’s next for the industry.

“It’s the fastest-growing area of payments,” says Fauss. “I’ve been involved in payments for more than 20 years now on both the merchant acquiring and issuing sides of the business and prepaid is growing, it’s exciting and it solves a lot of problems. The two biggest areas products are being sold into are the unbanked and underbanked populations that are using it as a substitute for checking accounts. Many times they distrust the financial system or don’t’ have the ability to get a checking account because of factors like poor credit.

“The other big demographic is in the millennial space. The younger generation interacts with finance in a very different way to my generation. They don’t want to go into bank branches and they’re used to using their phone or iPad to do everything.”